


Another Man's Treasure

by Gabihime



Series: First Things First [3]
Category: Sofia the First (Cartoon)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Musical Number, Non-Consensual Tickling, Picnics, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 19:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8115217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabihime/pseuds/Gabihime
Summary: Sofia's secret picnic with Cedric is a splendid success. Amber simply doesn't enjoy it because she wasn't invited and spends the entire time hiding in a bush.





	1. Chapter 1

Contrary to popular belief, intimacy does not generally blossom in shining discrete moments that explode like fireworks against a dark, velvety sky.

Instead it grows little by little, everyday, a long stretch of warm, fluid continuity. It grows with every brush of fingertips and every conspiratorial laugh. It grows whenever she makes some excuse to stand closer to him than is really comfortable, and it grows when that in time becomes his new definition of comfortable. It grows as his hand slipping down her spine when she comes close to him becomes a habit that he has to seriously curb when he suspects they are being observed and it grows as she learns where he'll be and when he'll be, and their schedules begin to coincidentally coincide.

It is and was something to be constantly discovered, constantly experienced.

Sofia breathed it in like oxygen, this secret concatenation of their lives: one day after the next established a very regular sort of bliss that felt anything but ordinary. It was the best game of hide-and-go-seek she had ever played: thrilling, hilarious, charming, and very private.

And of course, in addition to the gradual shifting that happened everyday, in every moment, with every casual touch and look and word, there were also other times that were not so smooth and silent and continuous. These were  _momenti allegro_ , the times when things seemed to happen both impossibly quickly and impossibly slowly, like the first time he ran his thumb along the outside of her thigh, under her skirt, or the first time she asked very innocently, 'help me out of my dress.'

In the time since his last defenses had collapsed so pathetically, Cedric had gotten very familiar with petticoats, crinolines, panniers, stays, garters, straps, belts, buckles, hooks and eyes, pins, laces, and buttons. He had learned what he needed to keep a firm grip on, what needed only a tug, what had to be treated delicately, and what could be tossed very carelessly across the room. He had also developed very singular  _preferences_. He had personal opinions on all of the dresses in Sofia's closet based on how they looked, how they fit her, how they felt against the skin, and exactly how difficult they were to get on and off of the lavender princesa. This last metric was not so much based on his carnal interest in the princess (which was admittedly considerable) but rather on the fact that he was the one who helped her into all her fripperies and fineries. Naturally he had developed a distaste for all the particularly troublesome dresses, unless he felt that they were worth the effort.

Privately Sofia thought that her sister would be positively flabbergasted to discover the breadth of Cedric's knowledge of ladies' fashions, and his very definite opinions on everything from slippers to undergarments. Amber was always desperate to discuss frills with Sofia, and the younger princess longed for the opportunity to introduce the one's obsession to the other's growing knowledge because she was confident that they would end up better friends because of it, even if they would not agree about farthingales.

Of course, she couldn't introduce the subject into polite conversation because of the way the sorcerer came by his knowledge. She was simply not creative enough to invent another  _believable_ reason as to why Cedric might have gained a sudden inexplicable knowledge of necklines and hemlines. Sofia found the fact that they had no opportunity to discuss this rare mutual interest to be decidedly unfortunate. She wanted very much for Amber to like Cedric and for Cedric to like Amber. At the moment they merely tolerated one another, and this only because Cedric was royal sorcerer and Amber was a royal princess and so the two had to be civil to one another at the very least.

Sofia was not altogether hopeful that the two of them would become fast friends if left to their own devices. In the nine years Sofia had lived in Enchancia Castle she had known Amber to speak to Cedric of her own choosing only a handful of times, and always when she wanted something.

Of course, Amber often wanted something. Sofia didn't hold that against her, as she wanted quite a lot of things herself. However, Sofia suspected that what she wanted was quite a bit different than what her sister wanted. That was perfectly all right in her book. It meant Sofia did not have to fight Amber for what she was intent on having. Fight the First Princess would - of this Sofia had no doubts - although she would certainly fight like a lady: very elegantly, but with a keen, and indeed perhaps  _manic_ , determination to win. But Amber would only fight if she thought that there was a prize worth having. Sofia was accustomed to her sister's idiosyncrasies. They were familiar, and could be counted upon. For Amber, all that glittered was worth having, gold or not. Sofia's ideas of riches and treasures were somewhat different, and had been considerably shaped by her experiences over the last several months.

Fortunately, Sofia did not believe she would ever have to fight with Amber for Cedric's attention, even if the sorcerer discovered the secret of transmuting lead into gold and used this newfound knowledge to decorate the castle with life size statuettes of the First Princess of Enchancia.

But Amber's casual disdain for Sofia's one-and-only was a problem in and of itself. Although Sofia did not want to have to chase Amber off of Cedric with a royal lacrosse stick, she did hope that someday in the future the sorcerer and the First Princess might be something vaguely like friends. It would make all things very much easier.

Whether for good or for ill, this was a problem for another evening, one of dozens and dozens that Sofia had piled up in a basket marked 'regarding Cedric.' She would solve them one at a time, as she figured them out. She had solved dozens and dozens already, although a new complication always seemed to draw her attention the moment the previous one was put to bed solved. Being a grown lady of seventeen was sometimes very much  _no fun_ , which was why she relished every evening. Once the clock had chimed nine, Cedric himself came to call.

He almost always appeared silently. She would look up and he would be there, leaning against the wall, his arms folded, or sitting in a chair by the vanity, watching her. She  _knew_ that he came cloaked in an invisibility spell and waited for her to turn her head to drop it, just for the effect. It was a thing she had learned, courting a sorcerer: they were often  _very_ theatrical. And so she let him do as he liked, and she played along. It did always make her heart skip to see him standing there because she could never be absolutely certain when she would turn and see him. It made her feel that he was always there, just out of sight, waiting until the appropriate moment. It made him feel much closer than he often was, and this was a great comfort to her.

Whenever things seemed to impossibly difficult it was always in his arms that she wanted to hide, being comforted until she felt strong enough to face the world again. Often, her wagon full of borrowed troubles overwhelmed her, but then he would shake his head ruefully, as if he could do nothing with her, and put his hands on her shoulders, and this inevitably gave her the courage to struggle forward.

Even on warm, sunshiny days, he was the one she wanted to share her happiness with, laughing about what she had done and seen.

She would go to him wherever he had appeared and drown him in the tidings of her day until he cut her off by kissing her. After this first kiss of the evening, sometimes short and sweet but often long and a little hungry, he was content to listen to her talk about whatever she liked for as long as she liked. He often brought his troubles to her, and they both stirred through them thoughtfully, hunting for solutions. She commonly thought of possibilities that he hadn't considered, and he was grateful for her quick mind and her thoughtful heart.

Only sometimes she was  _too thoughtful_.

It seemed to him that she dragged all the problems of the Kingdom of Enchancia right into her bedroom for the two of them to consider. If something was wrong in the kingdom, Sofia thought it was her solemn duty to right it, no matter what it was. Years of experience had taught him that there was not dissuading her from counting her troubles by the bushel. The rest of the royal family seemed generally unconcerned with the state of affairs in the nation. Roland and Miranda were in the ninth glorious year of their honeymoon, the crown prince was good at nothing besides dickering about with machines and otherwise pleasing himself, and the First Princess was primarily devoted to admiring herself, and then perhaps admiring that she admired herself. They were all benignly self-centered, as royal people often were, but the Second Princess was different. If a grocer in the town below the castle had a toothache, then Sofia knew about it and was devising a course of treatment. Likewise, if an evil enchantress had a plan to overthrow the king, Sofia knew about it and was ready to face her head on, with or without her own sorcerer's consent. As far as Cedric could tell, things in the kingdom had run smoothly for so long because Sofia was constantly running from one place to the next, throwing tea parties, rallying her forest minions, fighting off invaders, putting out fires, singing buttercup scout songs, and befriending absolutely every individual in the Tri-Kingdom area.

His princess was a busybody. Even watching her was physically exhausting.

It was incredibly, obnoxiously, atrociously  _annoying_  that she cared so much when others seemed to care so little, but it was also one of the reasons that he loved her, and so he generally said nothing about it.

Sofia appreciated his slow, thoughtful support, like a hand on her shoulder.

Even if he could offer her no easy solutions to her problems, he had a way of comforting her without resorting to pie crust promises. He never said 'everything will be fine.' Instead, he said, 'I'm still here, and I will be here, regardless. It isn't much, but it's what I can offer.' He said, 'I don't mind that I often have to walk behind you. Remember what that means: that I am always at your back.' He said, 'If it is possible, then I am certain that you will do it even if no one else can. That is your special magic.' He said, 'Take my hand. I will go where you take me.'

When they were alone, he said her name like it was a promise to himself. It was much nicer than being called 'princess,' she thought, although he did that too, turning the title into a wry little pet name, as if she were still a wishing well cat and not a member of the ruling house of the kingdom. 'Princess, come get a saucer of milk.' 'Princess, I am  _trying_  to work.' 'All right Princess, you can sit in my lap. You  _are_  spoiled, but I suppose you'll do what you like anyway, so I may as well let you.' And then sometimes he said it as an admonishment, sharp and crisp, ' _Princess_ ,' as if she were an errant puppy who had piddled on the rug.

He said it the way no one else said it and she listened when he called.

One evening, as the day wound quietly closed, Sofia asked a very serious question.

"Would you mind terribly if some day I just wanted to run off?" she asked with hesitation, "I mean, run away from everything. Stop being a princess. Stop doing all the things a princess does. Leave behind all the frilly dresses and tiaras and the recognition and responsibility and just  _do something else_."

Cedric chuckled briefly at that, "Well, I do think the king would definitely put a price on my head if I just  _absconded_ with his youngest daughter, no matter what sort of jolly farewell letter you left behind. And my parents would probably  _not_ approve," he advised wryly. "It's very disgraceful for a royal sorcerer to elope with a princess, you know." But then he waved the idea off dismissively, saying, "But of course I don't care whether or not you're in one of those impossible gowns or covered in seed pearls. I didn't fall in love with you because you were a princess," he said dryly, then shook his head as he looked at her thoughtfully. "Or perhaps I did, because you were a princess long before anyone bothered to screw a tiara onto your head or hang this amulet around your neck like a bell," he let his thumb run under the chain of the Amulet of Avalor and flipped it sideways against her skin.

It shone in the warm light of the bedside lamp as he looked at her very steadily, and she seemed very strange, like a page from a very old book.

"I think you were born a princess, Sofia, as much as I was born a sorcerer," he said seriously. "It's your prime self, your basic element. You couldn't leave off being a princess if you tried," he said levelly. "Even if you tried very hard, I think. If you stopped being called 'Princess Sofia,' you'd still be a princess, because a princess is who 'Sofia' is."

Sofia flushed rosily and looked down at her hands.

But then Cedric laughed and flippantly tapped her on the top of her head with his wand. "That wasn't exactly a compliment, your troublesome highness," he said with a quirk of his mouth. "I have no particular fondness for princesses," he reminded her. "Honestly, I find them to generally be  _absolutely dreadful_. They're tiresome, self-centered, inconsiderate wretches," he announced as if delivering his professional opinion on the subject. "It took you to make me reconsider the species as a whole. I am afraid to say that I find you, as an  _individual_ princess, to be very satisfactory," he said seriously.

"Why are you afraid to say it?" she asked curiously, tilting her head to the side.

"Because I sincerely doubt that developing a taste for princesses will do much for my longevity," he said, leaning back against the overstuffed pillows of her very royal bed.

"Oh Cedric," Sofia laughed, as unworried as ever. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she assured him. "I've told you that a hundred times."

"And we've crossed that bridge about as many times as you've told me not to worry about it. We are  _constantly_ crossing that bridge. I am no fortune teller, but I suspect, I  _predict_ even, that we will cross it again tonight," he reminded her with a raised eyebrow. "It remains yet to be seen what other people will think of this development once it comes to light. It could be very, very ugly. People love you," he said almost helplessly, as if completely caught in her spell. Sofia could be very intoxicating. Then he shook his head briefly, clearing it, "And no one is particularly fond of me besides you and my mother. They will not like it," he said, making another dire prediction.

"It will be all right," she tried to assure him. "If they love me, then they'll be happy for me," she said with certainty. "There may be a few bumps, and I doubt it will be  _simple_ , but everything will turn out right, you'll see. I have it on good authority," she said with a deliberate nod, and then folded her hands against her chest. "Plus it's what my heart tells me."

"I'm glad one of us is an optimist," Cedric said with a half-hearted shrug.

"Where would we be if I wasn't?" she asked leaning forward expectantly.

"Some place I'd rather not consider," he admitted, tweaking her nose. "You certainly weren't part of the life story I wrote for myself when I was ten years old."

"What was in that story?" Sofia asked with a smile she did her best to hide behind her hand.

"Oh, a great deal of success and grandeur, and perhaps a little bit of world domination," he said, folding his hands behind his head.

Sofia laughed and shook her head. "We'll get there," she assured him.

He made as if to nod comfortably and then all of the sudden he sat up as if he had been jolted by an electric shock and leaned forward, scrutinizing her very closely. Her heart sped up at this very deliberate examination of all her pertinent features.

"You are the real Sofia aren't you?" he demanded. "You're not  _the other one_?" The way he said the words 'the other one' sent a chill down her spine. It was as if he was reluctantly intoning the forbidden name of a banished demon. Since his unexpected brush with her a few months previous, he had developed a pathological fear of encountering the  _other_ Sofia, the  _worst_ Sofia, unexpectedly.

"I'm the real Sofia," she insisted, putting her own hands over his and giving them a comforting squeeze. "And I meant the success and grandeur part, not so much the world domination."

"Oh," he said, visibly relieved. "That's quite all right then," he said, leaning back against the pillows.

Sofia flopped down on the pillows next to him and lightly tapped him on the chest with agile fingers.

He knew this pose, those pattering fingers. She had something in mind.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" she asked, squirming slightly in place with her barely contained enthusiasm.

"Not particularly," he said warily, "Although I know that  _you_ are. Tomorrow is a school day," he pointed out.

"I'm playing hooky!" she announced with pleasure, and when she saw his immediate look of disapproval she laughed and shook her head. "Not really," she admitted. "I've been given special permission to spend the day doing nature illustrations in the royal preserve," she explained. "I'm supposed to illustrate plants and animals and fungi and whatever else I find, I suppose. I was wondering," she began in a curious, sing-song voice, "If you would be interested in coming with me."

Cedric raised a cautious eyebrow and said, "As delightful as watching you drawing mushrooms for hours and hours sounds, I think I may have other obligations - "

At this Sofia laughed like he was the punchline in her favorite joke and scrambled off to the side of the bed. She produced her sketchbook and began exhibiting very precise drawings one after another.

"Don't think I didn't think about this," she said with a smug giggle. "I've already done twenty seven accurate illustrations that I intend to turn in day after tomorrow as proof that I am a very dedicated student."

"You  _have_ been busy," Cedric said with honest admiration.

Sofia folded her arms comfortably across her chest and looked very self-satisfied. "That means I have tomorrow absolutely free, and a very good excuse to be out of the castle and wandering around in the royal preserve, all alone. Well," she paused for dramatic effect. "All alone except for  _you_. I hope, at least." She gave him an eager, hopeful smile then hastened to explain. "I thought that maybe you might make up some sort of reason to be out of the castle too, and then you could meet me at Juneberry Island for a picnic. If we go there separately, then no one will suspect anything, and we'll have plenty of peace and quiet to do whatever we like. Juneberry Island is really nice this time of year, and I made sure that the royal preserve would be totally cleared of personnel for tomorrow," she added nervously, a little out of breath after her enthusiastic pitch. "I didn't want anyone to scare the wildlife away."

"You seem to have thought of everything," Cedric remarked with dry amusement. "You really are a positive genius at putting these things together, aren't you? You haven't missed a detail."

"Well, I'm still missing you," she said hesitatingly, tilting her head to the side. "And the picnic lunch," she admitted. "I couldn't think of any reason to request enough food for the two of us without raising eyebrows," she confessed.

"Princess, you have chosen to entangle yourself with a sorcerer," he said with a touch of pride in his voice. "I can conjure whatever sort of picnic lunch you set your heart upon."

"So we can go?" Sofia asked excitedly, leaning forward as she tugged on his shirtfront. "We can really go on a picnic together?"

He raised a hand and let it come to rest affectionately on her head, stroking her hair, which was at the moment pleasingly tiara-free. It was very difficult to pet her when she wore the blasted things. "Of course we can," he said with reassuring certainty. "We'll go on a dozen picnics if you can arrange the time for them," he glanced sidelong at the door to her bedroom, "And we can secure the necessary privacy."

"Oh, thank you Cedric," Sofia said happily, throwing her arms around his neck with little concern for the fact that she might send them both tumbling off the bed. He managed to catch her and and himself and secured their position on the bed only by grabbing onto the headboard and pulling her down on top of him.

It was yet another regular evening with Sofia.

"You are very sweet," she told him, nestling her ear against his chest so that she could listen to his heartbeat.

"You are certainly the only person who thinks so," he commented dryly, idly rubbing her back.

"But I want other people to think so," she said slowly, "Because I want other people to love you."

He snorted at that.

" _Princess_ ," he said, as if he were calling a cat, "I am afraid that that may be a dream too impossible for even you to manage."

"If anyone can do it," she began hopefully, snuggling against him.

"If anyone can do it," he repeated quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

The day Sofia had chosen for their picnic couldn't have been nicer. The sun was high and bright, the sky was very blue, and there was a wonderful breeze. The birds were singing and all was right between heaven and earth.

Sofia made the landing at Juneberry Island easily, having left her flying horse at one of the river's docks so she could approach the little island by boat. She sang as she made her way through the trees, and the birds followed her, warbling out a woodland harmony.

She and Cedric had agreed to meet at a particular place near a very old oak tree. She hoped he wouldn't be very long in getting to the picnic, despite the fact that he disliked horses  _and_  flying. Sofia had pulled several promises in the stables to arrange for the sorcerer's transportation.

But she really needn't have worried. She came around the promised tree to find Cedric leaning idly against it, a book open on his lap. There was a picnic blanket spread out in front of him.

"Well now,  _princess_ ," he said, lingering playfully over her title as he affected mild amazement. "This  _is_ a surprise. Who would have imagined that we'd run into each other out here, of all places."

"I know," Sofia agreed with a laugh, unslinging her pack. "It's a remarkable coincidence." She paused. "You know, since we are out here together - "

"By coincidence," Cedric reminded her, raising one finger as he closed one eye conspiratorially.

"By coincidence," Sofia repeated with a nod, "It seems like we may as well spend the day enjoying the scenery together."

"Oh, I certainly plan on enjoying the  _scenery_ ," Cedric answered with a snort, then he shrugged. "After all, I did ride all the way out here  _on a horse._  You know that equines don't agree with me, the same way that  _being in the sky_ doesn't agree with me. I'm probably going to be sore for days."

"I promise I'll make it up to you," Sofia said with a smile so warm and genuine that the flowers might have turned to look at her had the sun not been high in the sky already. Cedric basked in her glow and decided at once that all the trouble of riding out to the royal preserve had been worth it. Being afforded the chance to make Sofa smile like she was smiling now, free and rich and so obviously delighted, was a precious treasure, even if it was not a rare one. He would never get tired of seeing her light up, no matter how often she smiled at him.

She offered him her hand, and he took it, and she helped him to his feet.

Once he was on his feet she turned to look at the bright little glade around them.

"We have the whole day together," she said. "They won't expect me back until after dinnertime. What would you like to do?"

He came up beside her and took her hand. "There is one  _particular_  thing that I'm rather keen on beginning with," he said, giving her a slight bow and drawing her hand to his lips, the absolute picture of courtly poise.

Sofia flushed and tried to think of what she might say in response to such a suave proposition, so unexpected from Cedric, who was usually anything but courtly. But then she caught the sound of a conjuration behind Cedric's back and she laughed out loud as be presented her with a pair of badminton racquets as if they were a bouquet.

"Badminton!" she laughed, dancing in place. "You want to play Blazing Badminton! Cedric, I didn't even know you liked badminton - "

"I can't say I'm a diehard fan. Well, I could, but I'd be lying," Cedric agreed with a shrug as he gave over one of the racquets. "But you - let's just say that it has not escaped my attention that you just  _love_  outdoor sports. It's something we never get to do together at the castle, because I suppose it would look outrageously suspicious if I suddenly became interested in playing lawn games, particularly as I would be interested in playing them with you  _exclusively_." He shrugged out of his robe and left it neatly folded on the corner of the picnic blanket.

"Someday we'll play together on the palace lawn," she promised with another smile that lit up the glade around them. "It was really nice of you to think of something like this, Cedric. You're right, I do love to play games."

"And to win games," he chortled. "But don't bet on that this time, princess," he said, tossing the conjured birdie up and catching it.

"Well, I have to say, I'm going to be really surprised if you beat me," she baited teasingly as he served the birdie. She batted it back at him like returning an ace, and the birdie sizzled as its tail lit up like a comet.

Sofia didn't think Cedric had any chance at all of returning her shot, but then almost faster than her eyes could follow, he had drawn his wand and cast a freezing spell on the birdie, slowing it down and allowing him to return it somewhat heavily.

"I used to play this game with my sister all the time," he said smugly. "Don't forget, princess," he drawled. " _I_  am a sorcerer."

"You didn't say you were going to use magic!" Sofia protested, moving to return the birdie again.

"I didn't say I  _wasn't_  going to use magic," Cedric pointed out blandly.

Sofia returned with another surefire ace, and again he froze it. This time when he returned it, she astonished him by pulling a wand out of some interior pocket on her dress and thawing the birdie before it hit her racquet, then sending it back with all the force she had. This time she did successfully ace him.

"A Buttercup Scout is always prepared," she announced prettily, tossing her head so that her curls bounced.

Cedric laughed at that, shaking a finger at her before leaning down to pick up the birdie.

"Don't think that'll work on me a second time, Sofia," he warned.

They played for some time, batting the birdie back and forth, throwing spells at it, and sometimes even at one another. All was fair in love and badminton. Quite soon they gave up on keeping score, since the spells flying between them sometimes crossed and therefore produced unexpected results. It was difficult to know who to count the point for when the birdie grew feet and ran off into the bushes and had to be hunted. In the end they were breathless and pleased, and when they finally met to shake hands after she called the game over, he tweaked her nose.

"I have no idea where you get all that energy from," Cedric said. "Honestly, even watching you makes me dizzy sometimes."

"I always eat a good breakfast," Sofia said with a quirk of her mouth. "Speaking of, what's for lunch?" she asked. "I have some sandwiches and fruit, but I'm afraid it's not very much."

"Well," he said, waving his wand nonchalantly, "I thought we'd start with fried chicken, potato salad, and ice cream. Then we can have jiggly wiggly pudding, or roast suckling pig, or whatever else you want."

Sofia clapped her hands in delight. "That sounds wonderful," she congratulated. "How did you know to suggest fried chicken? I really think it's one of the things that just  _makes_ a picnic."

"Princess, I have been a guest at no few picnics where you have reigned supreme," he drawled out with a satisfied shrug. "It has not escaped my attention that you eat no small amount of fried chicken  _every time_ it is available."

As he spoke, he turned his wand around in a circle, and the pale blue of his conjuration magic cleared to reveal a basket of chicken in his hands. He gave the basket to the princess who clapped her hands.

"Trust you to know a thing like that, Cedric," Sofia said with a laugh.

"As your intended, I  _ought_  to know a thing like that," he said with mild superiority.

They sat down on the picnic blanket and Sofia unpacked the lunch that she'd brought. Along with the food that Cedric conjured, dish by dish, it was more than enough for quite a party.

After she was quite full, Sofia lay back on the blanket and looked up at the sky.

"I'm so happy," she confessed. "That we could be together, here, in this beautiful place, on this beautiful day."

"I'm happy too," Cedric admitted. "Happy that I got to watch a beautiful princess fill up her beautiful stomach with beautiful fried chicken."

Sofia laughed and then sat up, cocking her head to the side. Cedric had just finished tidying up the remains of their lunch.

"What would you like to do now?" she asked. "The sun is so warm, it might be nice to take a nap."

He tapped lightly at the book that lay on the blanket by his knees.

"Nap for a while, princess," he suggested. "And let all that fried chicken digest. I'd be happy to sit next to you and read."

"Are you sure?" she asked, momentarily worried. "I mean, we're supposed to be having fun - "

"A lazy holiday is the best kind of holiday," he interjected. "Take a nap."

With this firm reassurance, Sofia sidled up to him and promptly went to sleep. He conjured a sun hat and laid it gently over her face.

He was just as content to spend time with Sofia-at-rest as with Sofia-Non-Stop.

That was to be expected. She was his princess, after all.

* * *

She napped for perhaps an hour, then popped up, as bright as a spring daisy. He closed his book then and consented to a walk around the island.

The wildlife of Juneberry Island greeted Sofia like an old friend, and she was a gracious visitor who made it clear that he was her honored guest. It wasn't as if Cedric was particularly fond of wild animals, but he was fond of Sofia, and so he had learned not to shriek when Sofia calmly chatted with snakes, bears, and alligators. Fortunately, the most threatening wildlife of Juneberry Island seemed to be river otters, who were not actually very threatening at all.

Walking with Sofia on his arm through the warm, golden afternoon as she introduced him to squirrels and otters was strange and wonderful, and he felt very fortunate that she was willing to share this part of herself with him. It was something that no other human really understood: her rich, personal magic.

The Amulet of Avalor gleamed like a star around her neck, but he was certain. Amulet or no amulet, Sofia had been born a princess.

It was a beautiful truth, but it was also a frightening one.

It was something that sometimes was very difficult for him. In his ordinary life it had long been an inviolable truth that the royals of Enchancia (and other nations, naturally) occupied a position above his. As a child he had not been a bosom friend of either the young prince or his boisterous sister even though he had grown up on the palace grounds. It wasn't as if they'd really been unkind to him. The torment Cedric had faced as a boy had primarily come at school, and then at home because he had never performed adequately enough to please his father. And that was just it, as clear as anything. The prince and princess had never been his peers. They had never been his friends or schoolmates. They had their own royal social set. They had their own royal school. They had their own peers, and he had never been among them.

When she had been a little girl, Cedric had managed to hold onto a little dignity in her presence simply because he was an adult and she was a child. Although she was a royal child and he was bound to obey her commands, provided they weren't too outlandish, she had still been a child and therefore a bit in awe of him simply because he had hit the magic number before her and was a bona fide grown-up.

If they had met as children, when he had been short, skinny, awkward, and so unsure of his magic that he was constantly accidentally turning himself into a chicken, or a teapot, or a bicycle tire - would Sofia have looked at him with anything other than kindness and pity? It was a difficult problem. Even greater than the difference in their rank was the difference in their temperaments. If he had been charismatic, powerful, well-respected, and appropriately ominous as court sorcerer, then it might not have eaten at him the way it did. A brilliant sorcerer might have made an appropriately romantic match for the kingdom's favorite princess.

But he was not a brilliant sorcerer, no matter what Sofia said to the contrary. Even now he could not be completely confident that a moment of panic or an untimely sneeze would not undo the greatest of his spells, or otherwise backfire and leave him as a chicken, teapot, or bicycle tire. His self-confidence was generally weak and his self-doubt and fear were generally great. As an adult, he knew that he remained short, skinny, and awkward, given to being envious rather than charitable and mildly villainous rather than generous, heroic, or gallant. Sofia was always granting him the courage to try being bigger than he truly was, but he understood the truth and the truth was painful.

He was such a sorry, embarrassing adult that a girl child had been his match before she was even ten years old. He wasn't shamed by Sofia's love. He couldn't be. That was absurd. It was the greatest treasure he had ever known. It was the greatest treasure he was likely to know. He loved her.

But he knew that he was not her equal, and he doubted that he ever could be.

This truth made those other, ordinary elements of his life harder than they might have been otherwise, even accounting for his clandestine relationship with a princess who had not yet reached her majority. He could not be seen with her. He could not walk with her on his arm. He could not sit with her at dinner. He could not even play badminton with her. At those glittering balls where the youth of the Tri-Kingdom area bloomed like strange, lovely flowers, he could not ask her to dance.

It hurt.

It hurt terribly.

That's why he had to find succor at times like these, times when the universe consisted of only the two of them and they could ignore or rewrite the laws of reality as they saw fit. He wanted to believe that it was  _for_   _her_  as much as it was for him, even accounting for his own selfishness. He wanted to give her something that he couldn't, otherwise.

"Princess - " he began slowly, uncertain, an embarrassing flush rising in his cheeks.

"Yes?" she asked curiously.

"I'd like to, that is, it would be, it would be - " he struggled mightily, fighting his fear that she found him ridiculous, that she found him absurd, even when he was trying -

"Cedric, what is it?" Sofia asked in concern, raising a hand to lightly brush the hair off his forehead. He was obviously in distress. They had finally come back around to the picnic blanket after their circuit of the island, and she was about to suggest that he sit down. She bit her lip, worried.

He would not look at her.

"We never - " he paused awkwardly, "That is,  _I_  never, what I mean is, I'm not really ever in a position to ask you to dance." The tips of his ears were bright red and he was looking stalwartly at the ground. "I'm certainly not a very accomplished dancer myself. I'm sure to step all over your feet. I used to get dreadful grades in dancing class, and I'm sure it'll be more trouble than it's worth to you, but," he swallowed hard, "But," and then he bowed nervously and extended his hand toward her, "Princess, it would be my honor to dance with you."

Sofia, caught totally off guard by this shy request, had drawn her hands to her chest during his confession, her own heart beating rapidly. When he offered his hand to her, she took it, and then her feelings overwhelmed her and she dashed forward the two steps that separated them and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder. Although surprised by her response, Cedric had enough experience with Sofia to expect the unexpected, and caught her and his balance before they both went tumbling over. Slightly confused by her embrace, he folded her up in his arms because that seemed like the right thing to do.

"Oh Cedric, I do love you," she said into his shoulder. "More and more everyday, I think. So much that my heart might burst if I didn't let a little of it out now and then. I love you more than the blue sky and the beautiful round moon," she said thoughtfully, then she giggled as her feelings overcame her again, "Even more than cloudberry pancakes. No matter who I dance with, you know that you're the only person I want to hold me, right?"

Cedric coughed and then squeezed her quite hard before replying quietly, "Yes, I know." He seemed to be struggling for words. "I am grateful for that, Sofia. I hope you understand what I mean."

"Of course I do," she answered with a warm laugh. "But you really don't have to be  _grateful_ , Cedric. You're just being silly. When I gave you my heart, I gave you the rest," she reminded, giving him a squeeze back. "Dancing is just to have a good time, or when I  _have_  to because I'm a princess, but you're my only  _real_  partner, you know? In dancing or in anything else. You're my Cedric, and I'm very happy to be your Sofia. There's nothing to be grateful for," she pointed out.

"And yet I'm grateful," he said very seriously, "Nonetheless."

She broke the serious mood by pulling out of his arms and turning in place as she did a little jig.

"You know, more than dancing at a fancy ball, what I really want to do is go out to a festival with you, maybe to see the Grass Slippers," she said, humming a few bars of a favorite song. "It is really sad that you've never been to the Hootenanny before, Cedric," Sofia lamented. "It's a whole lot of fun, and I'm sure you'd look great in plaid."

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "I'm  _not_  so sure, princess," he said.

"Well,  _I'm_  sure," she insisted, then tapped a fingertip against her lip. "As only one couple we obviously don't have enough for a country dance, but I can still teach you the steps. We'll just dance as a pair. I'm sure you'll like it," she said. "And then maybe next year you can shock everybody by debuting at the festival as an accomplished step dancer," she giggled, then leaned forward winsomely. "You know, in a country dance, everybody dances with everybody, because partners are traded as you go, so you really could dance with me in front of  _everyone_  without letting the secret out."

That idea left Cedric both hot and cold. It was an enticing idea and also a terrifying one. He enjoyed indulging in Sofia's benign conspiracies and it did give him a thrill whenever they managed to be together under the eye of royal authority without arousing suspicion, even if it also gave him heart palpitations. It was a shared secret that was sweet like honey and as addictive as any controlled substance. He was aware that he sometimes made very poor decisions when he was acting under the influence of Sofia.

He was not sure whether he was ready to don a kilt and pop up and down like a broken jack-in-the-box in front of the country at large.

But for Sofia, he would at least entertain the possibility.

"We'll see when the time comes," he said diplomatically. "Until then, I humbly request that you teach me the steps," he said, bowing again deeply.

She giggled again, and was apparently delighted.

He hadn't expected her to be troubled by the fact that they had no dance band, and she wasn't. She simply wandered around the clearing a bit calling for songbirds, and had soon assembled enough to provide appropriate accompaniment for dance lessons. Such things happened so frequently while he was in the company of Sofia that he no longer thought them a remarkable occurrence. She had even found a woodpecker to keep time.

"I've promised them something delicious," she confided, then took up her position beside him. "Now," she said, clapping her hands. "The first thing I'm going to teach you is the pas de basque."

Their dancing lesson went on for some time, with Sofia showing him steps, and then breaking them down into simple movements that they practiced together in time to the music of birds and the rhythm of a woodpecker. She was kind and gentle and lively, and he soon lost his fear of embarrassing himself in front of her because she was an easy task master and she was obviously enjoying herself. He didn't care how silly he looked or how bad his dancing was. She was happy, and that made him happy.

And she was right. It was very silly, but as he practiced hopping from foot to foot, he got to understand the idea that the dance itself was probably objectively  _fun_.

It was the first time he'd thought of such a thing as fun in years and years and years, since the time he had been a very little boy and dancing had simply meant jumping and laughing to music with no particular rhyme or reason.

"You know," she confided, as they slowed for a break, both breathing hard from hopping and stepping, "When I first came to the castle, I was really terrified of dancing," she said with a laugh. "That's probably not it. It seemed like I was afraid of dancing, but what I was really afraid of was betraying everybody's expectations and being rejected and abandoned. I think that's a thing that everybody's afraid of sometimes. In the end, I did the best that I could and that was good enough."

"I remember that," Cedric said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I was," he coughed and then rubbed at his nose before admitting, "Less than helpful."

Sofia laughed again. "Oh no," she denied. "I think you were actually super helpful. If you hadn't tried to help me out, then I might not have had the chance to make up with Amber, or meet Cinderella and learn what's really important when it comes to family, friendships, and dancing: what's in your heart."

"You know, princess," he continued, shamefaced, "That I didn't intend to help you - "

"Well, you helped me whether you meant to or not," she said with a sweet smile, reaching up to pat his head. "And that first lesson I learned, it was about forgiveness, and having a loving heart. You've always been there for me, Cedric, even if you didn't understand it at the time."

He covered his mouth with his hand and turned away from her briefly, because Sofia at that moment was so brilliant and lovely that he had difficulty looking at her. When he turned back to her, he raised a hand to brush her cheek and said what he felt as honestly as he could.

"You're very kind to me. I love you because it's impossible not to."

It was Sofia's turn to blush, covering her cheeks with her cool fingertips. After a moment she seemed to double over and squeal with her barely contained elation, hopping rapidly in place. He thought he might be in danger of being tackled again, but after she bounced around in absolute mad delight for a couple of minutes she seemed to get control of herself again and captured his hand with her own.

"Come on," she said, beaming. "Let's dance."

* * *

After they had quite exhausted themselves with dancing and laughing and Sofia's infectious joy, they were both content to drop onto the picnic blanket. Sofia flopped over bonelessly, kicking off her shoes and wriggling in place as she stretched her legs.

He was a bit more sedate, and ended up lounging against the tree, much as he had been when she had first come upon him.

After a moment, she tugged on his ankle. She was lying near his feet.

"Cedric," Sofia complained, threatening a pout. "Come down here. I want to be  _held_."

He let out a mildly exasperated sigh.

"Don't be so spoiled," he said. "If you want to be held, come up here. This is my holiday too,  _princess_."

"So I'm invited?" she asked mildly, rolling back and forth in place. "You're inviting me?"

"You have a standing invitation," he reminded her. "If you want to be petted, come here and I'll pet you."

Sofia came as called, on all fours like a cat, and then threw herself with abandon right into his lap and lay there like a dead thing. This was not a particularly uncommon occurrence, so Cedric patiently pulled the pins that held her tiara on out of her hair and then sat that emblem of her royal rank to the side. Then he languidly began petting her head.

She relaxed and let out a musical trill of contentment.

"You know, I think this might possibly be the best day that I have ever had," she said, snuggling into his lap.

"You always say that," he reminded her. "Anyway, don't be so frisky, you little vixen. If you want to keep being petted, mind your manners and be careful what you press against."

"Really?" Sofia asked in a singsong voice. "Really really?" This time when she snuggled him, she was clearly snuggling with  _intent_.

"You saucy little nymph," he complained with a laugh as he brought his hand down firmly on her royal rear end, giving her a resounding spank. "Forget being the second princess. You're the first princess of indiscreet behavior. You're so horribly naughty that you ought to go to reform school ten times."

"But you're not going to report my naughtiness," she suggested, up on her hands and knees again and grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Well, I'm not  _stupid_ ," he answered with his own laconic, half-lidded smile.

This made her collapse into giggles again, and she launched herself at him.

This time he was ready to be tackled, and let her bowl him over onto the blanket. When she was in a mood like this, Sofia was extremely silly and predictably unpredictable, but it was always fun to play with her.

After bowling him over, Sofia took possession of one of his arms, and he thought she was in the process of curling it around herself, but then he felt her tugging off one of his gloves.

"What are you up to?" he demanded, but she only giggled. She had pinned him effectively, and he could not keep her from claiming one of his gloves.

Unsurprisingly, she went for his remaining glove next, throwing herself across him like a little seal, and he was again unable to resist.

When she drew back, he realized that she had put his gloves on her own hands. They were a little too big for her, but the picture was, well, it was  _compelling_.

"My transformation is complete!" Sofia announced in triumph. "I have become Sofia the Sorceress! The sorceress," she threatened, looming over him, "Of  _tickles_!"

She then attacked him with no further warning and he was soon shrieking and laughing as he tried to fight her off, because it was a terrible and embarrassing weakness of his that he was extremely ticklish. Having been attacked by Sofia the Sorceress of Tickling in the past, he was aware that the only way to win some respite from her overly friendly hands was to either surrender totally and beg for mercy, or to completely pin her to the ground, which was challenging, considering she was athletic, as wiggly as a fish, and hated to lose.

They tussled around for quite a while until he at last managed to pin her to the blanket. He had had to sacrifice his bowtie to subdue her. She was often unnaturally focused on getting it undone and loose around his neck whenever she got particularly frisky. She didn't seem to care if she was ultimately pinned, so long as she could get his tie undone.

"I win!" she announced triumphantly as he pinned her to the blanket.

"And how do you figure that?" he wanted to know, breathing hard. Subduing her had not been easy. Given all the practice he'd had, he thought he was justified in adding 'princess wrestling and wrangling' to his resume. It was unfortunate that it wasn't really a very marketable skill.

"Because," she said with a sly, superior smile. "Now you're at my mercy."

"Well," he said after a moment, before leaning down to kiss her. "Touché."

* * *

Sofia had seen her sorcerer off with a lingering kiss and was tidying up their picnic spot. She wanted to take nothing but her sketches and leave nothing but her footprints.

She had just finished packing her little bag when she heard some rustling in a nearby bush. Thinking that it might be one of the otters come to see her off, Sofia went up to the bush and brushed the leaves back.

But what tumbled out of the underbrush was not an otter.

It was the first princess of Enchancia.

"Amber!" cried Sofia, startled. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm getting horrible leg cramps," the elder princess complained. "I don't think I could have managed to stay in that bush even one minute longer. Honestly, I'm starting to hate grass and trees and insects - you know, nature  _in_   _general_."

"Yes, but why were you in that bush in the first place?" asked Sofia in confusion.

"I followed you, didn't I?!" Amber blurted off testily, crossing her arms over her chest. "I saw you sneaking off this morning with a smile like you'd eaten  _several_  canaries and I was concerned. You were clearly up to something suspicious. I expected a  _rendezvous_. As your older sister, it's my responsibility to make sure that you don't get into trouble. I'm glad I followed you, although I can't say I'm very happy that I spent hours and hours crouched in a bush, but once I was there - well, given what I saw you understand why I couldn't make my presence  _known_. I hope you appreciate what I've sacrificed on your behalf," Amber said loftily. "You clearly need a guiding hand, Sofia."

Sofia sensed that her sister had been more moved by a desire for fresh gossip than by real actual concern for her younger sister's welfare, but she didn't see how pointing this truth out would do much good.

"You saw everything then," Sofia said flatly. "If you've been here since this morning, then you saw everything."

"I certainly did," Amber said indignantly, "Although I obviously wish I hadn't."

Sofia took a deep breath and let it out slowly before asking, "Well?"

"Well what?" Amber asked crossly.

"I'm asking what you think, Amber," Sofia explained gently, biting her lip. "About Cedric," she hesitated, then finally gained the courage to add, "And me."

"I think that if you were going to have a dalliance you could have picked a better person to have it with," Amber huffed. "Someone not so," she made a face as if she'd swallowed a bug, " _Cedric_. It really indicates a dreadful lack of imagination on your part, Sofia." She looked at her stepsister sideways and raised an eyebrow, "And it doesn't say anything particularly positive about your  _taste_  either."

"I'm not having a dalliance!" Sofia protested, then admitted, "Well, technically I suppose I am, but that's not all this is. I'm not just fooling around. I'm going to marry Cedric some day!" she announced triumphantly.

"You are not!" Amber responded immediately, stamping her foot as if mortally offended. "Besides, you can't just decide to marry someone without their consent. Does  _he_ know you're going to marry him? Has he asked?" she demanded. "You're not wearing a ring.  _I_  would have noticed."

Sofia didn't doubt that for a moment. If it was jewelry, Amber had the senses of a bird of prey.

"It's on the table for discussion," Sofia said evasively, putting her hands on her hips. She believed that they had technically already come to an agreement over the prospect of marriage, and that both she and Cedric already considered themselves engaged, but she wasn't so sure Amber would see things the same way, given that he had still not asked her with pomp and circumstance, down on one knee with a ring to bind the proposition. "And yes, he does know. I don't care if I'm not wearing a ring," Sofia said loftily. "It's not the ring that matters, it's the promise."

"Of course it's the ring that matters!" Amber shot back passionately, her face flushed. "Don't be naive, Sofia. If you don't have a ring, then you have nothing. A promise to wed isn't worth very much on its own merits, particularly not a promise from  _Cedric_ ," she said, sticking out her tongue in a way that clearly communicated her disgust. Then she took a deep breath and tried to collect herself, attempting to look dignified, which was somewhat difficult as she still had leaves in her hair. "Besides," she said, "You can't possibly marry the royal sorcerer. You're a princess. It's absurd."

"It isn't absurd," Sofia was quick to answer her sister.

"It is!" Amber cried out again, stamping her foot. "You can't. You're a princess. You have to marry a prince! And don't bring up Aunt Tilly because she doesn't count. We all love Aunt Tilly, but everybody knows that she never does  _anything_  she's supposed to do."

"Well then, maybe I want to be a princess like Aunt Tilly, a princess who does things her own way," Sofia said resolutely. "Only I won't do them Aunt Tilly's way. I'll do them Sofia's way."

"Have you thought of what our parents will say? If it gets out that you want to marry the hired help it'll be a huge scandal! What if mother and father disapprove, which they certainly will since neither of them are  _completely_   _deranged_  - what if they won't let you?" demanded Amber.

"I'd like to see them try to stop me," Sofia answered passionately, her eyes blazing. At that moment she was clearly the princess who had fought off wicked dragons, evil fairies, and villainous wizards, who excelled at fencing, magic, and honestly speaking her mind. But then her eyes softened and she said, "But it won't come to that."

"How do you know?" Amber demanded.

"I just know," Sofia insisted. "Besides," she said as she took a deep breath, "There's no rule about it!" She declared triumphantly. This was a fight she was prepared for. She had done her research. "Just look in 'A Thousand and One Tiaras.' There's no rule that an Enchancian princess  _has_  to marry a prince, and there's definitely no rule that a princess can't marry a sorcerer if she wants to."

"You looked it up?" Amber asked, aghast. She felt completely betrayed by her most beloved style guide.

"I looked it up," Sofia said with a deliberate nod. "There and in four other princess guides.  _And_  I also consulted with Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, Tiana, Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella, Merida, Mulan, Pocahontas, Aurora, and even Eilonwy," Sofia said, deliberately counting princesses off on her fingers until she ran out of fingers. "Did you know that Eilonwy married an assistant pig keeper? That makes court sorcerer sound positively aristocratic."

"Oh, what does Eilonwy know?" huffed Amber. "She doesn't even own a tiara."

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Amber, not all princesses wear tiaras," she pointed out. "Vivian basically never wears hers."

But Amber would not be moved. "Proper princesses wear tiaras," she said with a sniff. Then she attempted to appeal to Sofia's sense of logic. "Sofia, princesses marry princes so they can become queens and have castles and palaces of their own. What are you going to have if you marry Cedric? A moldy old tower that doesn't even belong to him?"

"I like the tower!" Sofia protested, her cheeks flushing. "And technically it  _does_  belong to him so long as he remains royal sorcerer. That's in the national charter," she said distractedly, then waved Amber off as if it were beside the point. "Anyway, I don't care about becoming queen of some place and having a castle of my own. I used to live in a shoe shop," she pointed out. "I like being a princess," she admitted, "But more than that, I like being Sofia, and marrying Cedric won't change anything about who I am, what I think, and what I can do myself."

Suddenly Amber gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "I finally get it!" she nearly shrieked. "That's your plan. You're going to stay a princess  _forever_. Sofia that's horribly selfish and unfair of you. Don't you know that girls only get to stay princesses until they're around twenty, and then they absolutely  _have_  to become queens or maybe duchesses or something. You cannot just  _hog_  being a princess for  _your_   _whole_   _entire_   _life_."

"What?" Sofia asked in absolute confusion.

But Amber wasn't finished. "You'll marry Cedric, and you'll stay in Enchancia with mother and daddy, and get to be a princess, and keep having princess parties, and have an absolutely huge tiara collection - I'll bet you have a coach pulled by unicorns, and everyone will be extra specially nice to you because they feel absolutely awful that you married that complete nobody of a sorcerer. I'll have to go away when I marry, because I'm definitely going to marry a prince, so you'll be Enchancia's only princess, the  _First_  Princess," Amber looked ready to burst into messy mascara tears. "Sofia this is intolerable. I can't believe you'd do this to me."

"I don't want to marry Cedric just to make you unhappy," Sofia said in a mixture of astonishment and exasperation.

"Of course you do!" Amber insisted. "What other reason could you possibly have for marrying him? He isn't handsome, he isn't dashing, he doesn't have a good figure, he looks terrible on a horse, he has no money, no connections, he isn't sweet-tempered, or stylish, or elegant or well-mannered, or even very clever, so far as I can tell. He isn't even a very good sorcerer. He's been an embarrassment to the kingdom for years. There is no reason that you would be interested in marrying him unless it's to make me miserable. Even then your interest is suspicious. In fact, if I had more confidence in his magic, I'd swear he'd put a spell on you!"

"He is not an embarrassment!" Sofia retorted, stamping her own foot. "He's an amazing sorcerer, and he's helped me save the kingdom dozens of times. Even if he hadn't done anything obviously wonderful - and I think he  _has_  - he's still a wonderful person. He makes mistakes, but he's incredibly thoughtful and sweet, and he only ever flubs spells when he's nervous. If you took the time to try and understand him - "

"I'm not interested in understanding him," Amber said imperiously. "Besides, he's old enough to be your father. That might be sort of exciting if it were anybody but Cedric," the golden princess said, sticking out her tongue again in obvious distaste. "It's not even thrilling and romantic, because  _nothing_  about Cedric is romantic - "

"I think he's very romantic!" Sofia disagreed, stamping her foot again. "Today he played badminton with me, and then learned to dance the highland fling, and we read together - "

"Sofia, you obviously have  _very_  low standards," Amber said dismissively. "None of that is even remotely romantic. Romantic is someone writing heart-wrenching poetry for you, or singing a beautiful ballad underneath your window in the palace gardens, bathed by spring moonlight, or fighting a duel for your honor (and winning, naturally). At the very least it's very large precious gemstone, preferably set into a diadem of some kind. It's not badminton  _or_  the highland fling."

"I'm not interested in diadems, duels, or heart-wrenching poetry," Sofia denied. "You're right. None of that sounds like Cedric at all. But Amber," Sofia said soulfully, "None of that matters to me. You see, I don't want what he can't give me. I don't care what he can't do, or what just isn't in his nature. I like him the way he is," she said, shaking her head. "I like all the things that he does, in his own way. Those are the things that mean the most to me. If he sang a song for me, then I'm sure I'd love it, just like I'd love any poem he wrote for me, because he'd have spent the time to think it up and put it down in his own words. But I'd only think those things were romantic if Cedric did them because he wanted to, and I don't really think that that's the way he expresses himself. That's all right with me," Sofia said, covering her heart with her hand. "People are all different, and they show their love in different ways. I love the way that Cedric shows me his heart. Even if he never sings a song for me, or writes a poem, I don't care. I don't want poetry or love songs from anybody else. What Cedric shows to me is very special. It's warm and it's comfortable and it's sweet," she paused weightily before finishing, "And it's  _private_."

"Ugh," Amber moaned, throwing her arms into the air. "How can you talk about him that way? Cedric has to be the least eligible bachelor in all of Enchancia. It's like you went and wrote a lot of love letters to Sir Gillium. Cedric's  _so old and depressing_."

"Sir Gillium is a very nice person!" Sofia responded passionately. "It's terrible that you'd say something so mean about him, Amber! I hope he meets someone wonderful and gets to be very happy with that person!"

"I hope you're not about to confess to being in love with Sir Gillium too, Sofia, because that would be  _beyond_   _the_   _pale_ ," Amber said with a condescending eye roll.

"I care about Sir Gillium because he's my friend and a great coach and an amazing rider and really wise and smart when it comes to dealing with animals," Sofia answered immediately, ready at any moment to catalogue all the bright spots of any individual of her acquaintance. Then she took a deep breath and let it in slowly before continuing, "I love Cedric, Amber. And it doesn't matter at all how old he is, not to me. I don't care. I love him because I love him. I didn't check how many candles were on his birthday cake before deciding it was okay to love him. I didn't decide  _anything_. I just love him. I always have. There's just something about him. It's hard to explain. I suppose it's that he  _wants_  loving. He's in need of it. I think he always has been. When I was a little girl, I loved him the way a little girl does, and that was enough for those days. We didn't want anything different because neither of us knew any better, I think. What we had was good, and so we both kept it as carefully as we could. It was a safe place, a safe feeling. But day by day, my feelings grew, the same way that I grew, a little at a time. Nowadays I don't love him like a little girl. I love him like the Sofia I am now. I think loving Cedric is just a part of who I am. I'd shift the world for him, honestly. I'd reorder the universe, if that was necessary. I didn't plan it that way, it's just the way things have turned out," she said with a shrug.

"I'm not listening to you!" Amber announced loudly, sticking her fingers resolutely in her ears. "I am not listening to you describe your weird, creepy relationship with Cedric. I am not listening at all!"

"There's nothing creepy about my relationship with Cedric!" Sofia denied, crossing her arms over her chest. "We're happy together, so what does it matter what anyone else thinks about us? We're in love with one another! That's not creepy, it's wonderful! Do you know how hard it is to find true love, even if you're a princess?" Sofia demanded.

"You are  _not_  in true love with Cedric," Amber said dismissively, flicking her hand out. "I would know."

"I am!" Sofia insisted passionately. "Besides, I have a lot more experience with love than you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amber demanded, both incensed and mortified. She hated the implication that she was not superlative in each and every princessly attribute, and both the girls knew that love was perhaps the greatest of all a princess's virtues.

"How long have you loved  _anybody_?" Sofia wanted to know. "Besides mom and dad and James."

"Well - " Amber began hesitantly.

"I've loved Cedric since I was eight years old," Sofia said with certainty. "My love was different then than it is now, but love is always different. That's just the way love is. It shifts and moves and grows because it's alive. And I'm always remaking it.  _We're_  always remaking it together. It gets remade all the time, whenever we just sit and talk quietly, or whenever he laughs, or whenever we learn something new about one another, or remember the past. Sometimes it's very simple and other times it's really complicated, but it's always good, even when it's hard. That's what love is, really: something that's beautiful even when it's ugly. That's why I'm not worried about what other people might think - even you, although I do honestly want you to like Cedric," she said earnestly. "That's why I know that everything will turn out right," she said. "The world would be  _wrong_  if it didn't." She paused. "If it was wrong, then I'd just have to fix it. I'll  _make_  things turn out right if I have to. That's part of a princess's responsibilities," she finished seriously.

At that moment Amber felt that Sofia was shining like a star, a paragon of princessly virtues, and she was envious. Sofia was truly beautiful when she was fighting for others or moved by her sentiments, and the First Princess again felt that old fear of being overshadowed by her strange adopted sister who did everything contrariwise and backwards and yet succeeded spectacularly despite her considerable unorthodoxy. It made Amber feel vaguely guilty and vaguely ashamed of herself. And her guilt and shame from being envious made her feel petty, but it also made her feel cross and confrontational. It was intolerable to Amber that Sofia could be so brilliant, could be such a perfect princess when she was defending her excessively weird attachment to the family's most accident-prone retainer. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all that Sofia could break every rule in every book of royal etiquette ever written and still be everyone's favorite. By this point, she ought to have learned to behave herself like a proper princess.

Amber did not like the feeling of being upstaged by a girl declaring her undying love for a bizarre man in a bathrobe who was only successful at being a complete and total failure.

"I've loved Lyra for ages and ages!" Amber interjected, clapping her hands together as if she'd finally found a means of self-defense.

Sofia put her hands on her hips again and sighed. "Amber," she said, "Lyra is a unicorn. I'm sure you love her, just like I love Clover. I mean, I'm sure you really care about Cleo and Hildegard and Baileywick and a lot of other people. I wasn't trying to suggest that you don't. I just meant - I care very deeply about Cedric. It's not like loving a friend, even though friends are really, really important. It's not like loving family. It's more than that. It's like all of that is there and then so much more piled on top in a zillion layers."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Sofia," Amber said, turning her back on her sister. After a moment she sighed dramatically. "I can't believe you talked to all those princesses about  _Cedric_ , when you could have talked to them about something  _important_ , like shoes, or their favorite constellations, or basically  _anything_  else," Amber lamented pitifully.

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Well, he is sort of important  _to_   _me_ ," she pointed out.

At that moment, Amber's stomach growled  _royally_. She paled, because a voraciously growling stomach was not one of the finer accomplishments of an accomplished princess. A flush rose in her cheeks and she bit her lip.

"Oh Amber, you're hungry!" Sofia realized all at once. "I should have figured it out before. You've been hiding in that bush all day, so you can't have had anything to eat since breakfast time." She immediately began digging in her pack. "There's a little left. I wouldn't let Cedric dismiss the extra chicken - "

"I'm not hungry!" Amber declared shrilly. She was clearly on the edge of hysterical tears because of her hunger and her cramping muscles and the many uncertain revelations about her sister's love life. "I'm not hungry at all and I certainly don't want any day-old cold chicken - "

Sofia passed her the wrapped chicken and Amber tore it open and cried as she ate it. Sofia sat on the log beside her and rubbed her back until Amber's sobs quieted and she was able to eat the chicken in peace.

After Amber finished, she daintily wiped her mouth and cleared her face of the smudged mascara. Then she stood and turned to look at her sister. She seemed to have fully recovered her poise and control.

"All this about Cedric," Amber said with a vague hand motion. "You must have hit your head or something." She was still clearly at a loss. "When we get back to the castle we can call the royal physician. I'm sure he'll be able to fix whatever is wrong with you," she said soothingly. "You'll be back to your normal self in no time." She patted Sofia on the arm delicately.

"Nothing is wrong with me," Sofia said with frown. "I'm not broken and I don't need to be fixed. You may not have noticed it, but this  _is_  my normal self."

"No, it's not," Amber contradicted haughtily, forgetting that until very recently she had been attempting the role of conciliatory angel of mercy. "Your normal self doesn't talk about Cedric all of the time, for one thing. I'm starting to get tired of hearing about whatever it is you're trying to tell me. It's not really my idea of a pleasant conversation."

"Amber,  _you_  brought all of this up," Sofia said with frustration. "You decided to follow me out here. You decided to hide in a bush for hours, and you decided to ask me about Cedric." She frowned again, "No, I don't always talk about him, but that's because I was worried that you wouldn't understand. I love him, and that won't change no matter what you or anybody else thinks about it," Sofia said with a frown. "This didn't 'just happen.' It's been happening for a long time. I've thought very carefully about all of this. I didn't just throw myself blindly into things.  _I choose,_ and I understand what my choices mean. I want to be with him tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, not just when things are exciting, but when they're quiet and still. This is an important part of my life, Amber," she said with a sigh. "Maybe you can't see the wonderful things about Cedric that I can see, but you really don't have to. You just have to believe that  _I_  can, and respect my decision." Sofia offered her palms up to Amber in a peace offering.

Amber became very pale at Sofia's final speech and then stammered, "You  _are_  in love with him. It's not a trick," she said in astonishment. "It's not a joke. It really is - you really  _are_  in love with Cedric. You can't lie to me," she insisted. "Princesses know these things."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Sofia said, throwing her hands into the air. She turned on her heel and drew her arms back down to clasp her hands against her chest. She had her back turned to Amber as she began, her voice soft and mellow, but it rose as she went on, gaining in pitch and timbre. "The path your heart decides on can be dark and deep, but if you live in doubt and fear, then your chance may not appear. Have faith  _and_   _take_   _a_   _leap_  - "

Amber flung out her arms as if she were shooing away an offensively tacky looking ball gown.

"Oh Sofia, you're not going to convince me with a  _song_ ," Amber said with a magnificent eye roll. "You couldn't convince me with a whole choreographed musical - "

Sofia twirled past her sister on her toes and gave her a brilliant, familiar, and  _stubborn_  smile. She had already gotten started, and at this point there was no stopping her. She felt filled-to-bursting with all her lovely mixed up feelings, and she knew they just had to come out now. It felt as if she had been waiting to sing this song for half her life.

She spread her arms wide again as she sang, "Because even a dark horse shines bright, in the warmth of summer shadows, or in the darkest night. You know a girl's gotta know what she's after, and it's taken tears and laughter, but when we're together, everything always turns out right. Did you know, Amber?" Sofia asked conversationally as she pulled out her wand and conjured a show of tinkling, twinkling wisps, "That you can find a fortune if you just bring a light."

"Sofia, get ahold of yourself - " Amber said imperiously, but Sofia just whirled past her again, followed by her stream of lights and stardust.

"A person has to know how to read between the lines," Sofia sang directly to Amber, as if sharing a treasured bit of wisdom, "What's written on his heart shines bright from deep inside - "

Amber struck her tongue out and mimed being sick and Sofia shook her head as she continued, "Don't you know? Perfection has got a lot of flaws, but that's what snared my heart because I've been looking at him all this time," she sang as she spread her arms wide again, turning in place. "And nobody else, either!" she shared pertly then continued with her virtuoso solo, "You know you'll never find a diamond if you don't look among the stones, and the kindest man may turn out to be the one who's all alone - "

"Oh Sofia, don't be trite!" complained Amber, "I know you're just saying this completely out of spite - "

"I'm not trite!" denied Sofia, "Listen Amber, I really don't want to fight. You wanted to know, so I'm trying to explain - "

Amber sniffed delicately and mimed dusting her hands, as if she had touched something repellant, "Please Sofia, just refrain - "

Sofia had at last lost her temper and stamped her foot as she retorted, "I can't refrain or I won't remain in this rigged game where you're ashamed of what I've claimed when it's plain, plain, plain that he's always, always, always been my aim. Amber, you won't even allow for sparks, but what we've got is  _flames_."

"All I can see from him is lame, lame,  _lame_ ," complained Amber.

"Then you're not looking hard enough, Amber," said Sofia with a very theatrical shrug as she turned on her heel again to launch into her next verse. "I know that my dark horse shines bright and if you'll stop ignoring what's right here," she covered her heart with one of her hands, "Then you'll see that I am right. I know you're reluctant, but if you're brave you'll discover the true, true warmth of one heart holding another. You see you'll always find a fortune if you can light the light, and then everything, everything, will always turn out right - "

By this point fluttering songbirds had gathered around Sofia to sing as she reached the musical bridge, prancing lightly along on her toes.

"It's not just the easy parts I want, it's the hard ones too," she confessed soulfully, "Because I've got hard parts," she sang with certainty, "And you do too!" she declared, pointing straight at Amber, who immediately huffed. Sofia spread her hands out apologetically as she added, "We all do!" She shook her head as she continued, "Not everything shines bright at first, but that doesn't mean it's not precious," Sofia sang, drawing her hands to her chest again, and the look in her eyes was tender and sweet, lovely and nostalgic. "Even the things that seem the worst, those are the things that enmesh us - "

"Oh Sofia," Amber sighed in exasperation, but she couldn't help but be moved by the tender look on Sofia's face.

"It takes the light of kindness to illuminate someone's heart," Sofia explained, the power and determination building in her voice again, "So take a breath, strike a spark, put your hand out into the dark. Pull them close, draw them near. Let them know that you've lost your fear. They'll light up like the stars above," she sang as she raised her hands above her head again and twirled the wand with a pretty flourish so that the twinkling lights glimmered beautifully, "And they'll shine bright with your love!"

Sofia closed her eyes briefly as the lights rained down on her and landed in her hair like snowflakes. "So this is the spell I weave," she sang softly, "Because in my heart I do believe that we'll work together hand-in-glove and we'll shine bright with our love. You see Amber, my dark horse shines bright," she finished sweetly, "His heart will always be my candle  _and_   _my_   _guiding_   _light_."

After Sofia's show-stopping performance, Amber let out another huge sigh and said, "Well, when you put it that way, I guess I have to believe you."

Sofia giggled, clasping her hands behind her back as she leaned forward and gave Amber her beautiful smile.

" _Exactly_ ," she said. "You'll keep our secret?" Sofia asked expectantly, pressing her hands together as she bowed, pleading. "Not forever. Just for now."

"I'll keep your secret," Amber repeated, sounding tired. In all honesty, having to witness and then accept the true love of Sofia and Cedric for several hours with absolutely no respite had left her completely exhausted.

"Thanks Amber," Sofia said happily, leaping forward and throwing her arms around the first princess. "You're the best sister ever. I love you!"

As Amber was squeezed and loved and praised she felt a little bit better about things. No matter how strange and undesirable the sorcerer seemed to her, he was what Sofia apparently wanted, and she supposed that was all that was important.

* * *

As the girls got out of their rowboat at the river dock, they were met by one of the royal coachmen. A coach and four had been apparently been waiting for the first princess for the entire day. Sofia hoped they hadn't spotted Cedric on his way back to the castle, but she supposed that even if they had, some suitable fib could be woven to cover the situation. Sofia's flying horse agreed to see himself back to the castle on his own, which left Sofia free to ride in the coach with her sister.

And so, the two princesses soon found themselves on their way back to Enchancia castle in a coach pulled by flying horses.

Sofia was aglow with triumph, both from the pleasure of a wonderful day spent with her heart's fondest, and also because she had won her first human ally with regards to her relationship with Cedric. That her royal sister was somewhat reluctant in her support didn't bother Sofia in the slightest. Amber would understand things better with time, Sofia was sure of it. Amber had a very good heart, but even though she was a princess, she was also human. Some things just took time to get used to.

And yet, even though their great personal dilemma had been solved and the two sister princesses had reconciled with one another, another problem remained, and this second problem left the first princess blue, rather than golden.

She had skipped school, and this was not behavior befitting a princess. This Amber knew without having to consult a royal etiquette guide. She was sure that she would soon be royally grounded.

Unlike Sofia, Amber had not arranged to spend the day sketching wildlife in the royal preserve, and so she had absolutely no excuse for playing hooky from school. This meant that she would likely face at the very least a detention and quite possibly a royal parent-teacher conference. Even though the threat loomed large, Amber could not help being preoccupied by the day's revelations. At last, Sofia gently broached the subject of playing hooky with her sister and Amber let out a melancholy sigh.

"I'm sure I'll be expelled for my audacious behavior," she said, then her gaze shifted meaningfully toward Sofia, "Even if I think there are other princesses in this carriage who are even  _more_  suspect."

Sofia laughed awkwardly and hoped the coachman wasn't paying too much attention to their conversation. "Don't be silly, Amber. Of course you won't be expelled. In fact, I'm hoping you won't even get detention if we play our cards right."

Sofia had already devised a plan, naturally. She was nothing if not inventive. She was accustomed to  _creative_   _thinking_  when it came to problem-solving.

Suddenly the morose princess was interested, and she sat up and gracefully folded her hands in her lap.

"And how do you propose we manage that?" she asked. "I honestly have no excuse, none outside morbid curiosity, I suppose," she said with a resigned shrug.

"Well," Sofia began thoughtfully. "Headmistress Fauna is very nice, and sort of a pushover you know? She's a sweetheart and I hate to take advantage of her, but this time we might have to. What if we tell her that when you found out I was going to do sketches in the preserve, you got really excited and just rushed off to follow me without even thinking of getting an excuse?"

Amber waved Sofia off. "Well, that isn't actually too far from the truth, although it wasn't the prospect of drawing squirrels that drew my attention."

Sofia gave a pained smile and made a vague motion toward the driver and Amber silently rolled her eyes and nodded.

"There's only one problem with that plan, Sofia," Amber pointed out. "I didn't actually draw anything today. My sketchbook is empty. Surely even Headmistress Fauna would have some objections to that."

"I'm sure she would," Sofia agreed energetically. "That's why you're going to spend this evening doing wildlife drawings. I don't expect you to hit my quota," she said with a laugh, "But I'm sure that if you do six or seven sketches, Professor Fauna will be satisfied, even if you did skip school without permission."

Amber looked over her shoulder, at the quickly disappearing expanse of the Royal preserve.

"And how am I supposed to do wildlife drawings?" she demanded. "We're flying  _away_  from the wildlife."

It was Sofia's turn to wave Amber off. "There's plenty of wildlife in the castle," she assured the first princess. "I'll call in some personal favors so you ought to have plenty of genuine wild animals to draw. And I have some ideas when it comes to the plant life and fungi."

* * *

Sofia's 'ideas' about the botanical aspects of this invented assignment led them to a place that Amber generally avoided at all costs, a place that she wished to avoid  _in_   _particular_ , given the events of the day. But Sofia was insistent. If Amber wanted to avoid detention, they would need the sorcerer's help.

"There are plenty of things that only grow in the preserve," she pointed out. "For your sketchbook to look convincing, it ought to have at least one of them, and not just a copy of one of my studies either," she said. "That's why we need Cedric. He can conjure something for you, and then you can draw it."

Amber was unsurprisingly reluctant, but followed her sister to the tower in spite of herself, because she wanted to avoid a royal disciplinary committee.

"I can't believe you're on intimate terms with  _the sorcerer,"_  Amber said as they walked, making a face that expressed her innermost feelings very eloquently. "I don't even want to begin to imagine how he seduced you."

"He didn't seduce me," Sofia interjected, extending a slender brown finger in Amber's direction. "I seduced him. I had to! And don't imagine it was easy, because it wasn't. Well," she paused thoughtfully, "I guess some parts were easier than other parts, but I didn't have much of an idea what I was doing, and he had even less of an idea than I had. It was touch and go for a while,  _literally_ ," Sofia paused in her rambling as if suddenly realizing that Amber was still standing next to her. "Why am I telling you all of this?"

"I wish you would  _stop telling me_ ," Amber lamented pitifully.

Fortunately, they were soon before the sorcerer's door. After a series of knocks the resident of the tower opened the door and was clearly both pleased and surprised to see his princess, since he hadn't counted on seeing her until after nine o'clock.

He was admittedly less pleased to see the girl who stood at Sofia's back, looking peeved, distressed, and mortally offended all at the same time.

Sofia pushed her way into his rooms like she always did, dragging Amber in behind her, and proceeded to explain their situation to him in full.

Cedric nearly had a fit of hysterics when Sofia gently broke the news that Amber had been a witness to the day's events, but she managed to soothe him appropriately when she got Amber to begrudgingly repeat her promise to keep their secret.

"Of course I won't tell," she said dismissively, with a toss of her head. "Who on earth would I want to tell, honestly? I'd really rather not think about it unless I absolutely have to."

Amber had accepted that Sofia was in love with the sorcerer, and based on his reactions, he seemed to be genuinely attached to her, although certainly he was still very  _Cedric_  throughout everything. But although she had accepted their relationship as a component of reality and was willing to try her best to tolerate it if only for her favorite sister's sake, this did not mean that Amber was particularly thrilled with the situation. She was doing her best to not think of the whole thing as being upsetting and distressing based on Sofia's heartfelt confessions, but honestly, anything involving Cedric just seemed to emanate 'upsetting' and 'distressing.' They were probably synonyms for his name in the thesaurus.

Whatever Amber's thoughts on their unlikely union, while Cedric remained nervous concerning this unexpected secret-keeper, Sofia worked her magic on him and soon he seemed to coming around to the prospect of conjuring some sort of rare plant so that the first princess might avoid a truancy charge.

"Well," Cedric drawled the word out, tapping the tip of his wand thoughtfully against his lips, "Perhaps I  _could be_  persuaded - "

"Ugh," Amber said immediately, swatting the empty air as if it were filled with an offending cloud of flies, "Ick, no. Just  _stop_. I don't want you to be forced into some kind of strange position with him because of me."

"Excuse me," Cedric interjected, his pride clearly wounded. "I don't force her into any of those positions. She gets into them herself. Honestly, I don't always understand quite  _how_. Some of them seem like they'd be uncomfortable, although I do have to say, the view isn't bad - "

" _Cedric_ ," Sofia cut into his distracted statement of self-defense with some feeling. " _I don't think that's what Amber is talking about._ " She had turned mauve.

Cedric let out a strangled squeak as if he had finally remembered that a horrified Amber was in the workshop with them. Imagining _strange positions_  had completely pushed his current predicament out of his brain until Sofia had the grace to underline it for him in red ink.

"Of course it's not what she's talking about," he shrieked, his voice climbing an octave in his immediate and overwhelming panic. "It's not what I'm talking about either," he insisted. " _What do they teach you at that princess school?_ " he demanded of Sofia, as if he had been dreadfully morally offended.

Amber's voice was dead with her resignation and complete despair. "This is the worst conversation I have ever had in my entire life," she said, covering her face with her hands.

* * *

Despite their many missteps, eventually Sofia's plan was successfully executed and Amber ended up with a sketchbook full of authentic drawings. By this time it was nearing nine o'clock and Sofia bustled off to 'do her rounds' before retiring to bed. In Cedric's experience this meant that she was going to run around the palace getting into everyone's business, solving what minor troubles could be solved with the time on hand and preparing a to-do list of new troubles and projects for the following day.

This left Amber alone with Cedric in his workshop. It was not the most ideal of situations, in her opinion. She suspected Sofia had arranged things this way on purpose.

Cedric was finishing up his own duties, as he had amused himself with his favorite princess for the balance of the day in lieu of doing any actual work. The silence that stood between them was hard and awkward. Cedric felt as if the first princess was judging him every moment his back was turned, and to be fair,  _she_   _was_. It made his hands tremble in nervousness and frustration and he upset several vials as he arranged his alchemy table.

Every time he made a misstep or knocked one thing into another he heard Amber make a sniff or sigh. At last, after a particularly soul-crushing noise, Cedric rounded on her angrily and planted his hands on his hips.

"Do you have something to say, Princess Amber?" he demanded.

Amber frowned severely at him and felt sorely provoked. She had been attempting to get along with him for Sofia's sake, but she felt that he had been rude and dismissive, ignoring her to fiddle with his silly bottles. Although she had been holding her tongue, now that he had confronted her, she found that she had  _quite_   _a_   _lot_  of things to say.

"What on earth were you thinking, getting involved with my little sister?" Amber asked haughtily.

Cedric frowned himself and answered automatically. "It wasn't  _exactly_  my idea," he pointed out.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," Amber said huffily. She felt that she had sure command of the moral high ground in this situation and intended to use it to the greatest of her advantage. She liked Sofia too well to really lay into her the way she might have, but Cedric had no such defenses. She was ready to filet him delicately and  _brutally_.

"I am,  _frequently_ ," Cedric answered sharply, "But  _not_  because I'm with the princess. To be ashamed of myself means to be ashamed of her, or to doubt her feelings, and  _I_   _cannot_   _do_   _that_."

Amber was startled by Cedric's vitriol, particularly since her regular impression of him was meek, cowardly, and bumbling.

"Sofia, more than anyone, deserves a handsome prince and a happily ever after," Amber said, still frowning. "You have nothing to offer her and you're more than  _twice_  her age. You must know you're not good enough for her. You'll never be good enough for her."

"No one knows that better than me," he answered, and his voice was low, but it wasn't soft. It was hard and brittle. "No one is more aware of how little I have to offer. No one is more aware of what a poor match we make. No one is more aware of what Sofia deserves.  _No_   _one_  could ever be good enough, me  _least_   _of_   _all_. If I could, I would give her the moon and all the stars in the sky, but this is not within my power. I wish that it was. Then I might give her something worth having," he finished softly.

"If you know all this, then why are you with her?" Amber asked in consternation. "If you love my sister,  _like_   _I_   _do_ , then you should want what's best for her, and you're  _certainly_  not what's best for her."

Cedric wheeled to face Amber and he was very grim. "I love her," he said darkly. "I love her more deeply and more terribly than  _anyone_." He paused weightily before he added, "And I understand her. If I denied Sofia, if I tried to deny my own feelings, that would  _crush_   _her_. And Sofia is a fighter. She wouldn't give up if I denied her once, or twice, or even a dozen times. She would keep trying. She would keep fighting. Sofia doesn't give up. I would have to be cruel to her  _for_   _the_   _rest_   _of_   _my_   _life_."

"You could leave," suggested Amber crossly.

"Do you honestly think that would work?" asked Cedric derisively, throwing his hands into the air. "Have you  _met_  the princess?" He shook his head. "I am confident that if I stirred a step outside the confines of this tower that Sofia would chase me. She would be willing to chase me halfway across the planet,  _or_   _further_ , as far as she needed to go, probably on dragon-back with a flight of griffons and an assemblage of mermaids to help her. There is  _no_  denying Sofia." Then he frowned again. "Beyond that, I couldn't deny her even if I wanted to. I can't run from her, even though I sometimes wish to. Her love can be frightening because it is so potent. It is so ardent. It is so  _herself_ , and I am, I am," he stammered, looking hard at the ground for a moment before looking up again deliberately, his eyes sharp. "I am reluctant to be loved. Sofia can be  _terrifying_ ," he let out a tired sigh. "I love her. She is the most important thing in my entire life. I would give up anything to keep her. I would bear any shame, any disappointment, any pain. I know I am not a proper match for her. I know I will never be a match for her. I wish to be better than I am because she  _deserves_  better than me. But  _I_  am who she has chosen, and I will  _never_  let her go, even if I have to fight all of Enchancia, all of the  _entire_   _world_  to keep her at my side."

His heated tirade had left Amber's cheeks faintly flushed, although she certainly would have never admitted to being charmed by the sorcerer's passion.

The truth was, he was  _beginning_  to grow on her.

Although Amber's worries hadn't been totally allayed, she was beginning to accept that what Sofia and Cedric had was powerful and ought to be respected, even if it was strange and unusual.

She closed her sketchbook and got to her feet, turning to give the sorcerer her back. She cleared her throat.

"Sofia tells me that you prefer crinolines to hoop skirts," she said regally.

There was a moment where Cedric stood there totally dumbfounded, staring at Amber's back, but when the princess looked nervously over her shoulder, he was startled into replying.

"Well, yes," he said, raising a gloved hand to cup his chin. "Yes, I do."

Amber turned around and opened her arms, palms up. "But you do understand that when it comes to a formal ball gown, the sheer amount of chiffon required for such a crinoline begins to be  _heavy_ ," she said.

Cedric waved her off. "I prefer a slimmer silhouette," he said.

"Even in a sea of very full skirts?" Amber wanted to know. "A girl wouldn't be seen. She'd get lost. It wouldn't make a very memorable impression."

"Yes, but Princess Amber," Cedric said easily, with a nonchalant wave. "Sometimes  _less_  is  _more_."

And she couldn't really argue with that.


End file.
